South Korean President Lee Jae Myung Launches Global AI and Trade Tour of Americas, Germany and US

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will embark on a seven‑night, 11‑day foreign tour from 24 July to 3 August, visiting San Francisco, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Germany. In the United States he will attend the San Francisco AI Summit and hold separate meetings with CEOs of Nvidia, OpenAI, Anthropic and Broadcom, while senior Korean executives from Samsung, SK Group, Hyundai Motor and Naver will join the discussions. The agenda stresses deepening AI cooperation, securing semiconductor and cloud infrastructure ties, and attracting investment from global tech giants.

The South American leg includes state visits with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil, President José Antonio Kast in Chile and President Javier Milei in Argentina, focused on expanding trade under the Korea‑Mercosur agreement, modernising free‑trade accords and coordinating energy and critical‑minerals cooperation. The trip concludes with a stop in Germany to reinforce industrial and supply‑chain partnerships. Officials say the multi‑stop mission blends diplomacy with corporate outreach to diversify markets and reduce reliance on any single bloc.

President Lee described the tour as an effort to position South Korea as an “irreplaceable” player in the global AI ecosystem and to advance mega‑projects in semiconductors and generative AI.